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As a small photography business owner, I sometimes feel that I’m spending far too much time trying to manage my day-to-day business operations and less of my time actually taking photographs. Light Blue promises to change all of that.

Light Blue Software Ltd, a British company startup from 2008, feel they have the answer to mine and many other business owners’ requirements with a tool that has been designed by photographers, for photographers..

At its core, Light Blue is a database package along with a Getting Things Done system. It has been built from the ground up for use by Photographers to help them track the vast amounts of information that they collect for every shoot and business function, break it down into tasks and to set deadlines for everything. On top of all of this, Light Blue will handle all of the paperwork associated with shoots – generating anything from emails to invoices.

Where Light Blue differs from other databases, is that it has been built by professionals who understand what it takes to run a photography business. This makes Light Blue something of a Bespoke package. Where such platforms like Sage or database packages like File Maker fail in todays small-business photography world, is that a photographer doesn’t need most of what these packages offer. In the case of File Maker (A powerful database package), you still have to build the database structure yourself prior to entering any data. These would be classed as ‘off-the-shelf’ products.

Part of what makes Light Blue so powerful is the ability to use the in-built workflows to help manage your day-to-day, but to also build your own workflows to perfectly manage how YOU want to work. This is important because a piece of software should never tell you how to work. You tell it how you work and it should match you.

I originally reviewed the Graze Product in 2009, back when there was very little information on the internet about this service that delivers delicious nibbly-bits to your mailbox once a week I confess that I canceled my subscription in Q1 2010, however this was in a bid to save a little money, loose some weight and eat less over all. I was not displeased with the service, but at the time it did not fit my lifestyle. Since the review went live back in 2009, it gathering comments and feedback from readers and existing customers of Graze. A lot of the feedback I have received from existing customers was of a frustration of being unable to cancel their subscription to Graze. I’ve replied to each and every comments and offered advice where I’ve been able to, even going to far as to contact Graze directly to make them aware of the issues users were facing. Continue reading “Graze.com, Three years on – A two month review”

Following on from the success of my review of the iZettle Chip & PIN mobiel payment solution, I have decided to go a step further and look at another Chip & PIN solution that I was not aware of until recently. Continue reading “Intuit Pay Chip & PIN – Review”

I originally reviewed the Graze Product in 2009, back when there was very little information on the internet about this service that delivers delicious nibbly-bits to your mailbox once a week I confess that I canceled my subscription in Q1 2010, however this was in a bid to save a little money, loose some weight and eat less over all. I was not displeased with the service, but at the time it did not fit my lifestyle. Since the review went live back in 2009, it gathering comments and feedback from readers and existing customers of Graze. A lot of the feedback I have received from existing customers was of a frustration of being unable to cancel their subscription to Graze. I’ve replied to each and every comments and offered advice where I’ve been able to, even going to far as to contact Graze directly to make them aware of the issues users were facing. Continue reading “Graze.com, Three years on – A two month review”

Ever since starting my own business I have been looking for a way to take payments by card, without having the monthly expense and contractual obligation of operating a Chip & PIN reader from a Business Banking account. Six months ago I came across iZettle; a relatively new startup that promised a mobile card payment solution without monthly cost.

Not all the reviews and articles I write are technical. For once, I thought I’d post about a recent experience I had while buying some new skis. Now, I’m no professional skier or ski-equipment reviewer, but I enjoyed testing out these two models of ski so much that I felt compelled to share what I found.

With my recent experience of building two Core i5 systems on Asus Maximus III Extreme Motherboards still fresh in my mind, I thought I would impart some of the knowledge to the general community to help people with similar or identical setups.

Almost a month ago, I stumbled across an advert in the local newspaper for a service called Graze.com. The service offered healthy food, delivered fresh to you desk on a daily basis, along with a free trial of the service. I had never previously heard of a service like this, and was understandably curious about what it offered. A quick trip to the Graze.com website explained that the service delivered a box of fresh, healthy food, direct to your home or workplace.

I received my first box from this service about two weeks ago, and a second box on Tuesday this week. After receiving the second, I thought I would write a short article on what the service offers and my impressions of it.